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Last year, at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, artist Laura Culic sweated it out in the heat and feared her encaustic paintings, made of wax, would melt with the high temperatures.

“I think I’ve experienced a range of what is possible for July, which is anything from 40 degrees of baking sun to 15 degrees in thunderstorms,” says Culic, who has had her art on display at the festival for nine consecutive years. “I remember setting up in a torrential monsoon with thunder crashing all around one year.”

The thing that concerns her most is the heat.

“Last summer it was hot as heck and nothing melted,” she says. “I was so worried about it though.”

After a long winter, Torontonians are eager to get their entertainment fix outdoors, and art shows are no exception. Every July for 52 years, come rain or shine, the show goes on at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, a popular outdoor alternative to the typically hushed gallery experience. The three-day juried festival, beginning on Friday, showcases contemporary fine art and crafts in Nathan Phillips Square.

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And when the weather gets unpredictable, the artists have learned to be prepared.

“We have a lot of display tents and artists that display in 14 different mediums and some are more prone to risk than others because of the weather,” says Greg Holman, the exhibition’s director of events.

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